Don't be Silenced

Tag: PoliceBrutality

Too unstable to be raped
Too quiet to be raped
Too loud to be raped
Too rude to be raped
Too outgoing to be raped
Too beautiful to be raped
Too much of a mess to be raped
Now that she has been raped
I mean who would anyway?
Look at the state

Too full of tears
And back ache to be raped
I mean maybe she was in pain before he raped her
So it can’t be rape

Too much audacity
She reached out to other survivors
Without the support of police

Too polite, happy and looked like she was
getting on fine with the perpetrator to be raped
He played the bass
I was there at the gig that night
He was always alright with me
I am a single mother and he
Worked with old ladies
My mum knew him and
He never gave us any problems
Ok he has dropped pornographic comments
And he is awkward around women he doesn’t know
I don’t know why
He always carried a condom
But he was always allright with me

Oh he has to stop doing that
“ Overriding no “ thing
He is too pushy
Too eager, too over excited
Too immature
Too domineering, with an entitled attitude to women
Too demanding to take no for an answer
You’re a strong woman
Maybe you wouldn’t have minded so much
If you weren’t a strong woman

I am weak now
I stay home with my head bowed
Afraid to go out
Get told I am aggressive That i did shout
Now
Plead and beg for help
But it fell on deaf ears
As I used the wrong tone
Though my voice had died and
It would barely come out
Still I try to speak out
Still I tried to reach out
They said you changed your story
Changed your mind
You told us cuz
It is how you will be defined
If you don’t know your own mind
“How would he reasonably know you weren’t consenting?”
As if rapists were reasonable men
Yh I know you said you were screaming in pain
But tell me,
Describe your underwear again

Can you explain consent law again?
Because it is about will
It is about did you want what he did?
Did you agree to all of it?
Of course not
He knew
He said he knew
He said it’s not nice what I’m doing
Has anyone else been nasty with you
Did someone try to force you before?

Too quiet to rape
Why didn’t you scream for help?
Not just scream in pain
Why are you shouting
Why are you so angry?
Maybe that is the problem
Maybe you hate men
He never had a girlfriend
Not in two decades
But his last one
Was his best mate
Maybe the problem is your race
Too old to rape
The perpetrator was angry
He said you’re quite young
Aren’t you
How old are you
Did you used to be a model
Grabbing my hair too
He said:
Do you know how old I am?
I’ve never known a blonde.

Rape is not a hate crime
It’s just misogyny
Which to save you
Looking in the dictionary
translates as hatred
Of women.

Just to be clear
This is the voice of a policeman
Smirking
He said: Injuries, so what?
What does that prove ?
A man jumping up and down on you
The damage sixteen stone can do
I believe you perceived you weren’t consenting
The suspect said it was all consensual
All the torture
He put your body through
Though you said it was rough and painful
No. I said HE was really rough and
He hurt me.
I am in agony
Please
Let me see a doctor
Please
Please don’t let him near me
I am terrified
I am afraid to go outside
Since that night

Too young to know better
Too sexy to be raped
Too ugly to rape
Too stupid to be rape
Too clever to rape
Too flighty to rape
Too unreliable to rape
Too disabled to rape
Too full of fear to rape
Too flirty to rape
Too potentially mentally ill to rape
If you count the PTSD
She sustained along with her physical injuries
During the rape
No visible injuries
Skeletal bruising goes too deep
Internal bruising and lacerations
Maybe your shower gel was too cheap.
You didn’t let me see a doctor for weeks
Then invent other reasons for my
Injuries

Too boring to rape
Too pretty to be taken seriously
Too intelligent to be raped
Too assertive to be raped
Too outspoken to be raped
Too much of a strong lady to be raped
She didn’t appear distressed
When she was making her complaint
Maybe she was putting on a brave face
But who does that
After rape

Too fat to be raped
Too thin to be raped
Too distracted to be raped
She talked about the same things again and again
With a phenomenal amount of detail
That is not normal
She has always been consistent

Too resistant

Too educated to be raped
Too stupid to be taken seriously
She put herself at risk
She asked for it
He injured her
But she wanted it
She wasn’t clear
She was too clear
She inflamed his temper
She fell asleep during the movie
She didn’t make him feel chemistry
She
She
Never he
Stop blaming the victim
Stop the shaming
It is you who should be ashamed
This is not a game
It is a crime
The perpetrator carried on
Despite her refusal
He wasn’t blind to
Her terror
Resistance
Screams
Reluctance
Tears
Pain
Her cowering
Her pleading
He carried on regardless
He didn’t worry about her being
Too anything

Try to completely besmirch my name
You think I’m gonna move out
Because I’m so ashamed?
Think I’m gonna give up cos you
Victim blamed?
Raped in my house
You shout
You bully
You accuse
Now refuse to meet
Because “she’s too rude”
You mean too true
Too factual
Too corroborated by evidence
Unlike you
Anything to ensure
The boss is not
Confronted
With the terms of
Your cost
Your gross misconduct
Your appalling
Deplorable
Incompetence
Negligence
And breach of trust
Your failure to meet
Contract
Policy
Morality
Devoid of kindness
Care
Or respect
Now you turn the tables
Accuse the victim of anything
To deflect the spotlight on truth
Ignore evidence and
You have nothing
But other bullies
To cover for you
You don’t care about my injuries
My trauma
My truth
You don’t care about two hours of torture
And multiple assaults
While I was working for you
You don’t care about my written proof

Punish and shaming victims
Instead of doing what you
Are meant to do

That no one can see through
Your callous heartless dangerous games?
The lies were all on your side
The lies because you couldn’t be bothered to try
You, workshy
Who never read a book on trauma ever
Your despicable lies
Your undermining
Your betrayal
Your refusal to see justice
You cover up
Your whitewash
Your never ending bullying of all and any who dissent
Your sugary, slippery nastiness
Your creaming round your own authority
Your crushing of vulnerability
Your vicious wicked lies about me
Your claims of fairness, honesty
Integrity
And transparency
The laughability
Your desperation to crush
All and any who hold reality to you
A mirror for all to see
People walking out of meetings crying
And you still can’t see
You are the root of your own problem
It is not about me

Authorities that cover up for rapists or sexual predators and shout survivors down and crush our voices, are part of rape culture. The worst ones are usually those that claim to have a remit to help us, but do the opposite. Millions of funds that could be going to support survivors and stop rape, are being wasted on the wages and funds to officials who are misogynistic and have no interest in our safety or supporting us. There are those who have every interest in silencing women who speak out about sexual violence. Particularly cases they would rather do not see the light of day. Especially if they or someone involved are associated with the perpetrator. If the truth came out, the individuals concerned, see a threat to their job, social position or even their freedom, being that perverting the course justice and harassment are criminal offences.

Sometimes I don’t feel like talking
Sometimes I wanna be quiet
I’m not hostile
Because I didn’t smile
Touch me when I don’t want
That is hostile
Impose upon me when
I said no
That is hostile
I try to defend myself
You say I’m rude
Aggressive
You even say it’s abuse
Yet all those things
Man did:
You excuse
He said she consented
It must be true

Did you ask me
What I wanted
It’s my body
I said no
I said no
I said no
Put me under duress
Then say I accept
I didn’t
You didn’t read me my rights
I had no counsel
No time
Nobody to describe my plight
No way to understand
How frightened
How terrorised
How unable to move
Or take flight

They told me
to make my statement
lying down
Because of the pain
Of the injuries
He caused to my body
I could not sit up
I could barely speak
Yet you say that
Is normality
I am so full of grief
Sometimes I don’t want to eat
I forgot for weeks
The first month
I survived on coffee
I could not sleep
I lay on the floor
Where I would have been
At his feet
I could not disrobe
As I could not bear
To touch my own body

A policeman called
He yelled at me
I was on the floor
Crying
It was just after dawn
He yells
I AM NOT INTERESTED
IN YOUR FEELINGS
Give me your evidence!
Now!
If you have any

I wept
No
I can’t
It hurts to speak
I am on the floor
I’ve been here
All night
Crying since five
I can’t think straight
I am too weak
I am in pain
I can’t
He shouts

YES
YOU
CAN

Are you going to co- operate?
Do you want us to investigate?
We listened to you for FOUR HOURS you took FOUR HOURS on video
Nobody takes FOUR HOURS!

I was silent
he said
Right
I’m not going to allow you to give any more evidence
It is finished
We have enough
For us
I know this means
Enough to shut you up
Enough
To stuff you up
Enough
To let the rapist off
He yells again
We are talking to HIS friends
He says he has more to Show us
I says what?
He goads
“I can’t tell you that…”

Police are like a gang
with the perpetrator
I can’t explain
This terror

My body is a war zone
Fields of devastation
Left on her barren plains
Bombs and rockets
have exploded here.
I pick up the shattered pieces
And try to
Put them back together
With tears
That will not come
Shaking and numb
I make my way
Across the battle ground
The used condoms
He tossed aside
For me to clear up
He derides
Yells at me
To pick up his clothes
“Pick up my pants!” He shouts
I bend down
I acquiesce
In silence
I do what he says

Am I broken?
I don’t know yet
he told me
“Sex is the test”
If there is
No connection.
I failed
I showed emotion,
Only distress.
He complained
He saw
Sadness in my eye
I could not
Pretend pleasure
Not even
For him
For this
My screams
Put him off
His climax
His stroke
Kept going
Hard
Like
ice
Concrete
Fire
..
Blood
no blood
Robotic
Fear
Breath
in me
Quiet
Rising
Stifled
Cries
I could not
Struggle
Move
Not
My hips
My arms
I was stilled
To a silent
Stupid
Stunned rabbit.
Stupid
Contortion
Stupid
Heart beat
Stupid
Stupid
Me

These are
Some of
The feelings
Irrelevant
To the man
Who rang me
Early morning
From the police

I’m not interested
In your feelings
He shouts
I’m not saying
I disbelieve you
He says
What is there
To disbelieve?
What is there
Left of me?

When I can
Still breathe
When my
Chest
Has stopped
Seizing
When I have
Woken still
On the floor
Because
Once more
I could not
Face
The bed

Then
When,
Then
You can
Judge me
wanting.
I could not..
I failed

D’you want us
To investigate?!
He yells
Crack of dawn
Me, broken
Again
Are you
going
to co-operate?!
He interrogates
My broken body
My broken sobs
“Yes”
I say

No

“No,” is not a word
These men
Like this
Can take
Yes,
No
It’s the same
To them

No! a stifled scream
Woman
Held within,
Crushed
Like my music
That stopped.
Like the blood
That ceased
Flowing
From my womb
That day,
The day
He
invaded
My everything
With his hard
Calloused being

Determined
His
Hard
His erection
That did not
Care for
My feeling
My pain
My screams
on repeat
Like a rhythm
My fear,
His aphrodisiac

My fear
My stillness
My quaking,
His opportunity

He laughs at
My terror
My horror
My sickness
My devastate.
My room
That swims
Before his
Realisation
Of Sudden fun
In all this
Premeditation
Now
Protection off,
Protection gone
The chance
To force pregnancy
against
Everything
I believe

Now
He knows
he truly
discovered
The essence
Of me

“I’d better not
intimidate you”
He’d said
Yesterday,
My timidity
A station
Where he could park
His things
His anger
His directions
His misogyny
His pornographic dream

Control,
Demands.
Blindness
To my rising despair

He vents
His demons
Hatred
He tried
To bury them
Deep inside me
As he could squeeze..
Intimate
As could be

We cannot compare it
To the personal trauma
That rages through veins
Pistol fire across my boundaries
What he did
Broke me apart
The pieces of shattered me
Cracked open
For everyone to see
Everywhere I turn
the perpetrator’s friends
What’s next? Public humiliation?
Men like him
Are judge and jury

No locks changed
No alarms
Can make me feel safe
He may come back again one day
The depth of this fear
I cannot explain..

Afterwards
he wrote me
a letter which says
“I felt I was
abandoning
you to a fate
Worse than death”
Like a prophecy
A hex

Try talking therapy, they say
Are you joking?
As if I didn’t do that anyway
A prison
I cannot escape
While he
Walks free
Every day
From this war crime

I, still being tried
Still justifying
Still unable
To adequately explain
To fully comprehend

Rise
From the ashes of my broken relationships
From the devastation of my rape
From the obliteration of men’s hate
From the accusations of privilege
by way of my perceived race
Rise from my woman’s place
On the receiving end of men’s hate
On the receiving end of men’s sex
As if I had no other purpose
But to serve their appetite I was born to sate

Rise from their mistakes
The ones for which they
Are never accountable

Rise away from my home
Of seven years
I am just supposed to up and leave like
Sand and mud
He displaced
With the hatred of his rape
With
the so- called witnesses
the neighbours
the friends of his
who mocked
My grief
who lied to police
Tried to silence
My cries for help
My pleas to keep
The perpetrator away
Just from my door
I didn’t ask for more

The outrage
That a man
Should have to do jail time
For anything
In this sham
They call the
Justice system
The criminal injustice of them
The way it is weighted in favour of men
Who can remove women from juries who judge them
Where they have peers as policemen
Laughing at my injuries
Sneering at my rape
Mocking my distress
Revelling in their own hate
Watching my face
For signs of shame

Their anger and rage
When I stared right back
Proud as ever
Met their eyes
Like a challenge
Instead of bowing my head
I look at them
and even a man that stupid
could read my mind

You didn’t do your fucking job
And you know it
You are a disgrace
And you know it
You are a perpetrator of hate
And you know it
You probably did the same thing
to your own wife
Last night
Why
Just this morning
I can see it in your eyes
The guilt crystallised
In you fury
Your rage

You blast me from your side
Of the sapphire unit desk
You’re leaning over
Your nearly in my face
Your fat neck
Straining at your collar
The outrage
That a woman
stood up to you
The audacity.
No cctv
Tell me again
Why police never installed cctv in any of these
Places?
Where people die and are assaulted and are bullied and abused
The victims never leave or leave with injuries
While police walk away with impunity

Otherwise why you mocking the actions upon me of this guy
Why you working on the sexual offences unit?
mentality of
a sexual offender,
I mean how else do you explain your contempt of my gender?
you don’t give a shit about my trauma

Your shouting at me to listen to your voice over mine
When you were hired to crack this crime
The crime of drowning out the voices of females
Using our bodies
Then claiming it was our desire
How do I rise
From the ashes of this fire?
This funeral pyre
This fate worse than death
Which he, the rapist told police
he said yes
he wrote that her in a letter yes
within hours of his

supposedly consensual sex
that left me with injuries internally and
to
my pelvis
my neck
my psyche
my life
straight after his email read:
“I felt I was abandoning you
to a fate worse than death itself”
He said he wrote that- hell
“Detective Inspector” said
” We don’t know what it means.
We didn’t ask him.
It means nothing- less:
It is nothing”
The police meeting
about my rape
That was like attending an
Inquest into my own death

Rise rise
How do I rise
From this?
But I will
And you know I will
I don’t know how I will
But you know my will
and you and I know
I will

Months of prisoner in my own home
Afraid to go out
Just to get food
I’d rather not go out at all
Than go out dishevelled with
My head bowed
That is how proud

I stayed quiet all that time now
This
is how loud

Still
I could not stand
So I fought lying down
Sitting at my desk
Crying down the phone
You didn’t help me
So I fought alone
You try to crush me
But I kept going
You shout me down
So I put it in writing
You ignore my letters
So I wrote poems
You bin them
So I put them on the internet and
Share them
I linked up with other women
Who went through the same thing
were treated the same way
Here I am again
To hold a mirror to your face
your disgrace
And you
see your own betrayal